It is well known that companies regard the ideas of their employees as excellent sources for improvements of the companies' products, services and processes. Companies increasingly call upon their employees to consider, develop and implement suggestions for company improvement. The improvements can be internal (e.g. work safety or in-house processes) or external (e.g. improvement of products or public image). In order that ideas of the employees will not be lost within the company, it is common for companies to implement idea management systems, also called employee suggestion systems. These systems typically include encouraging employees to create ideas, providing an idea submission process to submit these ideas to proper decision-makers, providing a defined and transparent evaluation procedure, and providing a rewards or remuneration process.
The implementation and managing of a successful idea management system is appreciably complex, requiring experience and expertise in management and human relations.
US PAP 2002/0107722 discloses a typical system, method and computer program product for idea management, whereby information is entered into a series of templates to develop a structured idea. Once the structured idea is developed, a server determines one or more members of the business management to whom the idea is routed based upon the information entered by the employee in the templates. US PAP 2003/0036947 discloses another conventional system and technique for managing the submission of ideas in an organization.